Alcademics.com

Joel Baker to Take On Tres Tequila Lounge in San Francisco

Joel Baker, formerly a bar manager at Bourbon & Branch and Burritt Room, will be taking over the bar program at Tres Tequila Lounge & Mexican Kitchen in San Francisco, the bar/restaurant formerly known as Tres Agaves. 

 

Image stolen from Tres website

 

Most of the plans are still a bit nebulous and we shouldn't expect to see any changes until early March, but Baker told me he'd look into expanding the tequila program into other agave spirits including adding more mezcal and sotol. They'll begin serving tequila shots with a choice of sangrita chasers in red or green as well.

He'll also work on staff education and take some time getting up to speed himself on their huge tequila selection. Baker does plan to expand the cocktail menu, keeping on classics like the margarita (of course), La Paloma, Batanga, etc. and adding a half dozen or so house cocktails. He'll also be putting a few non-tequila drinks on the menu, meant to pair with the restaurant's food. 

I'm looking forward to seeing what's in store. 

New Bar: Tacolicious II and Mosto in San Francisco

The second outlet of restaurant Tacolicious has moved in to The Mission district in San Francisco, with tequila bar Mosto attached. 

It's a very strange set-up: Both Tacolicious and Mosto serve both food and drinks, yet they opperate independently with different menus. Yet you have to walk through Tacolicious to get to Mosto. The restaurant serves cocktails, while the bar serves mostly shots/sippers. 

(Photo of Tacolicious II by Tyler Gourley, courtesy of Tacolicious)

Tacolicious is food-focussed: it's a high-volume restaurant with a large private dining/party room and an outdoor patio. They offer about 20 cocktails, most available by the glass or pitcher. (The menu is below the jump.) They are mostly juice cocktails with a couple Micheladas. They also offer a huge selection of tequila. 

(Photo by Ed Anderson, courtesy of Tacolicious)

The bar Mosto on the other side of the wall is a much smaller and tighter space than the restaurant it abuts, and doesn't feel like a waiting room for Tacolicious either as it is so different.  Mosto only offers five snacks, served from a station at the end of the bar, and only a few cocktails: 2 versions of a Margarita, an El Diablo, a Tequila Sunrise, and a Paloma. 

(Photo of Mosto by Tyler Gourley, courtesy of Tacolicious)

The tequila list at Mosto is also huge, and it includes a large selection of mezcal too with the full range of Del Maguey and Pierde Almas lines among other mezcales. They even have a few sotols. Tequilas start at $8 (though most are $11+) and are served with both sangrita and jugo de escabeche, the latter sort of a spicy pickleback that is delicious. 

(Photo by Ed Anderson, courtesy of Tacolicious)

As far as other drinks, they have a small menu section awesomely called "Haters" that offers a single choice of vodka, gin, rum, and bourbon. 

 

The menus are below. 

A Honey and Tequila Cocktail

In a recent post on FineCooking.com, I posted a recipe by Brendan Dorr of B&O American Brasserie in Baltimore, Maryland. I tried it at home and it's some tasty stuff.

Go get the recipe here.

Items of Interest in The Tasting Panel Magazine

I learned lots of stuff in the August issue of the Tasting Panel Magazine. I write for this magazine but didn't have a story in the current issue. Anyway:

1. Isle of Jura has a 200th Anniversary Edition, a 21 year old single malt aged in an ex-sherry cask. 
2. The Don Julio Anejo Claro that someone gave me a sip of at Tales is a real thing. For the 70th anniversary of the Don Julio being in the tequila business, they are releasing an anejo tequila that is filtere to make it clear, which supposedly will "bring back the bold agave flavor typically found in a blanco." I don't understand how you can filter flavor into a spirit, nor the point of making clear aged tequilas in general, but we'll see.  
3. There is some strange new "botanical absinthe/ green tea liqueur" called Tempest that has suspended drops of absinthe in it. Sadly low ABV of 25% but goofy fun nonetheless. 
4. Phil Adler makes a flavored ice cube inside another flavored ice cube. (Page 114 of the digital edition. )

13 Tequilas to Try

In the Los Angeles Times Magazine to accompany my story Tequila is the New Vodka; Tequila is the New Scotch, I made a list of 13 tequila brands to recommend. 

In some ways, this was the hardest part of the story. I wanted to recommend brands at a variety of prices and flavor profiles. I knew I'd have to leave some good ones out.

When I got down to my top eight and was debating about the rest, I asked a couple of tequila-obsessed bartenders for their opinions on a list of possibilities. They were great and surprised me with their picks - and agreed with each other to such a degree that I included them all. I was trying for twelve but ended up choosing 13. 

These are not the 13 best tequilas; these are 13 recommendations.

Milagro: Triple-distilled and great for its price. $20–$40

El Tesoro: Longtime favorite of tequila aficionados. $50–$70

Espolón: On the boundary between mixable and sipable. $20–$30

Ocho: Single-plantation agave; each bottling is different. $50–$80

Partida: Peppery and well-structured. $40–$70

Don Julio: Zesty citrus ($35–$50) and, in aged bottlings, like Don Julio 1942, vanilla. $80–$150

Fortaleza: Rich and creamy—the potato vodka of tequila. $40–$80

Tres Agaves: Great tasting, smart pricing. $35–$45

7 Leguas: An absolute classic—earthy, understated. $30–$50

Riazul: A new brand, full-flavored and surprisingly sweet. $45–$70

Patrón: Gentle flavor profile that inspired hundreds of imitators. $40–$60

Corralejo: Made in the state of Guanajuato, a chewy, rich spirit. $30–$60

Pueblo Viejo: A bargain, good for mixing. $15–$35

 

What would you have chosen instead?

 

(Photo: BRIAN LEATART for LA Times Magazine)

Tequila is the New Vodka; Tequila is the New Scotch in LA Times Magazine

I've brought up one side of this topic before here on Alcademics, but now both sides are in a magazine.

In today's Los Angeles Times Magazine I have a story on tequila, looking at how brands are being produced and marketed - some like vodka; others like scotch. 

As our preference for 100 percent agave tequila grows, it’s no surprise that brands are now popping up to take advantage of that trend. But what is really interesting are the niches tequila is carving out: Some are being bottled in sleek vessels complete with the same marketing and mystique that seems to be inspired by premium vodkas, while other new tequilas are promoting the artisanal, historical and romantic notions of the agave spirit, akin to scotch whisky—even if the brands were created within the last week.

It's a whopping 1,000 word story. Please give it a read and let me know what you think. 

(Photo: BRIAN LEATART for LA Times Magazine)

Casa Noble Distillery Visit

Way back in February I took a quick trip to Mexico to visit the distillery La Cofradia, where they make Casa Noble tequila. They make other brands there too, but I was there as the guest of their flagship brand Casa Noble.

A Beautiful Distillery

La Cofradia is located about a mile outside of the town of Tequila in the Lowlands of Mexico about 45 minutes outside Guadalajara. In Mexico a few distilleries cultivate a garden-like environment but here they take it to another level. There is a central courtyard with trees, a duck pond, a little cafe, and a set of four cottages where visitors like me can stay. 

Casa Noble Tequila Production

Casa Noble is a certified organic 100% agave tequila. In order to be organicaly certified you need to prove that the land has been organically farmed and not had chemicals used on it for a certain number of years. Casa Noble avoided that problem by purchasing virgin land in Nayarit and planting fresh agave there. Nayarit is one of the five states where it is legal to grow agave, though nearly all of it comes from the state of Jalisco where the distillery is located.

Thus Casa Noble uses estate-grown agave. This is a growing trend in the tequila industry; producers owning or renting the agave fields so they can control the both the care and harvest of it, but also the price, avoiding the dramatic gluts and shortages of agave in the industry as a result of its long, 6-11 year growing cycle.

(Agave pina (pineapple))

The fields in Nayarit are at an elevation of about 4000 feet, higher than some of the Highlands. Yet the agaves I saw at the distillery were much smaller than Highland agave I've seen. Those are often 200 pounds compared with the 110 pound or so average at Casa Noble (and thus only had to be split in half before baking; some Highland producers split theirs into quarters). They purposefully chose an isolated location for their fields, because they are organic: they wouldn't want airborne agave diseases to spread to their fields.

After harvest, the agave pinas are brought to the distillery where they'll be baked, shredded, fermented, and distilled. Baking converts the complex sugars in the agave into simpler, fermentable sugars.

(Closeup of piece of agave. You can see the fibers. The sugars are stored between these fibers which is why agave is shredded after baking to release them.)

Baking and Shredding

La Cofradia has 5 hornos (ovens), 3 large 40-ton ones and 2 smaller 20-ton ones. The agave is steam baked for 36-38 hours. Then it cools before the next step. They hasten the cooling process by using large fans blowing through the two sides of the oven.

When agave is cooking with steam, the first water than runs off the bottom is called "bitter honey" and it is discarded. The next mass of water is called the "oven honey" and this is collected. We sampled this water- its sweet, watery, and has a vinegar note to it. (David Yan, Marketing Director there, says he's used a refined version of this as a vinegrette on salads.)

(Baked agave.)

After baking the agave is shredded to expose the fermentable sugars that can be washed out and fermented. At La Cofradia they have a unique system: First the baked agave pinas are put through a sort of wood chipper (not a roller mill) with water. This water is collected and they call it the "fat extraction."

Next the chipped agave goes into a two "extractors" that are shaped like horizontal metal tubes. The first part of the extractor is like a corkscrew that compresses the fibers in the agave. Then it passes through to a set of paddles on a central axis that spins the agave fibers outward and washes them with water.  Apparently this helps separate the fibers without neccesarily shredding them.

(Diagram of extractor from my notes.)

Fermenting and Distilling

Now, onto fermentation. They ferment the combination of the oven honey, fat extraction, and agave juice from the extractors. Yeast is added that feeds on the fermentable sugars and converts it into alcohol plus CO2. While filling the fermentation vats, they bubble air into the tank, which they say makes the yeast reproduce more. This increases their alcohol conversion by an extra 1-2%.

(Ready for fermentation.)

After fermentation (3-5 days, depending on the time of year), the yeast has died and the juice is called "mosto muerto." Now it's time to concentrate the alcohol through distillation.

At La Cofradia they have large and small stills for the first and second/third distillations. The first, large stillas are called "destroyers" and their job is to get rid of most of the heads and tails.The resultant spirit is 22% alcohol.

(Destroyer stills closer, smaller stills further away.)

The smaller stills are used for both a second and third distillation that refine the spirit. Though the first distillation cuts most of the heads and tails, there are smaller cuts on the second and third distillations. Both bring the alcohol to 55% ABV. (For most of the other brands that are produced at La Cofradia, they distill only twice. As this is the flagship brand they refine it more.)

After distillation (or, in the case of the aged tequilas, after aging) the tequila is filtered through micro-cellulose fibers and diluted to proof. The blanco (only?) is oxygenated before bottling for 8-12 hours.

Aging and Tasting

The barrels for aging Casa Noble come from the Taransaud cooperage in France. They're new French oak with a light #1 char, and nobody else in Mexico uses these barrels.The tequila goes into the casks at 55% ABV from the still (not watered down before barreling).

(New French oak barrels.)

Interestingly, the tequila destined to be anejo (minimum 1 year aging) goes into new casks. The reposado (2 months to 1 year aging) goes into refilled caks. (More often, brands will use newer casks for reposado tequilas and older ones for anejo so that the wood affects the spirit more in a shorter time for the reposado.) They refill these casks for reposado 7-8 times.

Cristal/Blanco: This tastes of nickel and minerals, white and red pepper, and "agave sticks" according to my tasting notes.

Reposado: The reposado is aged for 364 days, the maximum amount before it would be in the anejo category. Reposado is aged in all 228-liter barrels. My tasting notes were: Boo-berry, strawberry cream popsicle, and white flowers.

(Tasting.)

Anejo: Here's where Casa Noble separates itself from the pack yet again. Though all barrels are new French oak from Taransaud, they actually use three different sizes of barrels: 114 liter, 228 liter (about the size of bourbon barrels), and 350 liter barrels. These are blended together to create the anejo.

The anejo is aged for 2 years. (Anejo is aged a minimum of one year. Extra-anejo starts at three years.) You can definitely taste all three of the below flavor profiles in the anejo.

We were given the opportunity to taste tequila aged in each of the three sizes of barrels, each of them for a little under two years.

114 liter: bitter wood, used peanut oil
228 liter: fruit, dusty Boo-Berry, most similar to the reposado
350 liter: floral, strawberry juice, light

Now, besides Casa Noble, I can only think of one other set of brands that ages their spirit in similar casks of different sizes: Jim Beam. Laphroaig and Ardmore both do "quarter cask" programs.

So, Wow.

This is a distillery that uses traditional methods in many ways (stone ovens, gentle agave processing) yet has built their system from the ground up (new agave fields, agave processing methods, distillation, aging). And it's all done in a lovely setting to which I'd love to return someday.

 

New Products from Beam: Devil's Cut, Rose Cognac, and a Twelve Dollar 100% Agave Tequila

I wish all the major spirit companies would do this: Instead of being contacted by a million different PR agencies, I sat down with a Beam Global employee and she took me through some of the new product launches for Beam's brands over the next half a year. 

Beam has partnered with Thatcher's Organic Liqueurs so we may be seeing those around more. They're pretty low in alcohol level so I think they'll be more for home consumers than for bartenders. Of the ones I tried I think the apple-ginger one has the most potential.

Jim Beam is releasing the "Devil's Cut" in July/August. A play on the angel's share (the alcohol that evaporates through the barrel), the devil's cut is the bourbon that is trapped absorbed in the wood when the barrel is emptied. Apparently they've developed a way to get some of this whisky out. (Chuck Cowdery gets the info here.) They add a touch of this devil's cut to six-year-old Beam (with the same mash bill as their four-year-old) and release this product at 45% ABV.

I sampled the Devil's Cut and found it to be light bodied like regular Beam, but definitely a lot more woody. Not so much caramelized vanilla, but raw wood.

Knob Creek Single Barrel is just regular old Knob Creek but unblended and sold at 60% ABV instead of the usual 50%. The one I tried tasted like Knob Creek, at higher proof.

Courvoisier Cognac is coming out with a Rose' - a blend of cognac and wine. Sounds to me like it's a Pineau des Charentes but I don't know enough about it yet. Courvoisier continues to release new products - last year saw the launch of a 12-year and a 21-year bottlings. Finally cognacs are getting creative.

Sauza is launching a 100% agave tequila called Sauza Blue for  $11.99 and $13.99  $18.99 (the product was just released at this price- must have changed since speaking with me), in time for Cinco de Mayo. Sauza is usually a mixto, whereas their other lines - Tres Generaciones and Hornitos are 100% agave.

I think this is a pretty significant event, because:

• While 100% agave tequilas are growing even in the bad economy, the cheaper mixto tequilas are actually selling less. It seems Sauza is acting on this.
• We're currently in an agave glut, but the price of agave must be super low to offer this for twelve bucks. Will it be sustainable?
• 100% agave tequila must be bottled in Mexico, whereas mixto tequilas are usually trucked to the US and bottled there. Because Sauza is the #2 selling tequila their production is so big that they added an additional bottling line in Mexico to handle the bottling volume of this product.

So between Cuervo launching the 100% agave Tradicional Silver in the US ($24) and this 100% agave Sauza, things are moving in the right direction.